According to local sources, the growth is the fastest since 1994. The island province also saw a rise of 14 percent in power generation.

Hainan Automotive Group produced 22,000 automobiles last year, with the output value exceeding three billion yuan (about US$362 million). The province also produced 590,000 tons of chemical fertilizers, a record high.

Industrial development had been slow in Hainan, which has remained a major base in China for natural rubber, tropical and sub-tropical vegetables and fruits, with the industrial sector contributing less than 20 percent to the province's gross domestic product (GDP).

The slow industrial development produced a negative impact on the island province's finance, fiscal revenue, employment and pace of urbanization, said the local sources.

Over the past years, while adhering to the principle of no pollution of the environment, no destruction of resources and no wasteful duplication in industrial development, Hainan has been working hard to make good use of local resources and to carry out industrial development.

Fixed assets investment in Hainan totaled 22.55 billion yuan (about 2.72 billion US dollars) last year, up 9.3 percent, the biggest growth since Hainan became a province in 1988. Construction began on a great number of industrial projects in the past year.

The island province is determined to complete a range of industrial projects this year, including building an offshore natural gas field and an 800,000-ton offshore natural gas-based chemical fertilizer plant at Dongfang City on Hainan's western coast.

The provincial authorities hope that by the year 2007, the proportion among primary, secondary and tertiary industries in Hainan will be 3:3:4.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2003)